Crush
by LA-ink13
Summary: Callen has a little crush, because that's all it is, right? He can't actually be falling for Nell can he? (Takes place after 3x22 Neighborhood Watch)


She was too young. And his co-worker. And it was a crush. Something that he would get over. There was no sense in dragging her into his world, when it would end, and probably end badly eventually. And Hetty would kill him if she quit and a new analysis had to be brought in. And he was sure that she and Eric were already secretly dating, or would be soon. There was no sense in upsetting the balance of everything just because he couldn't get her petite figure and short red hair out of his mind.

Yet as he stood in the doorway, and watched her flipping through documents and files on the big screen, he couldn't help but grin. He once told Sam that he attracted an intellectual type of woman. What he had failed to tell Sam what that that was the type of woman that he was attracted to. It wasn't that he wanted someone leggy and blond, and instead all the smart woman fell at his feet. Instead it was quite the opposite. Leggy blond were easy to find, but what he wanted was someone that he could hold a conversation with. Someone that would fit snuggly in his arms when he pulled her close. Someone he could spend the night cuddling against and taking to in bed.

He had told Sam that he couldn't find his soul mate online, but for a moment he had considered joining her dating site just to talk to her on there. He wouldn't need to be himself, and maybe if he didn't post a photo, she wouldn't realize who he was. Except he knew he couldn't do that. There was no sense in making up a cover that would end up getting them both hurt.

She was everything that he could want. Smart, cute, easy to get along with, and most importantly, she knew who he really was. Except he was much older than her. Set in his ways, from a very different background. All good reasons that it wouldn't work.

"You you need something, Agent Callen," she asked, not looking away from the computer screen.

He rubbed his arm and stepped forward. "No. I was just getting ready to go home, and I saw the light on up here, and thought I'd say goodnight."

She nodded. "Goodnight, Agent Callen."

"You heading home soon?" he asked, trying not to sound too interested.

She shook her head. "My apartment's being fumigated so I'm spending the night here on the sofa."

"That doesn't sound comfortable," he said gently. "Why not get a hotel room or stay with someone?"

She shrugged. "Hotels in LA are expensive, and I'm cheap. And I didn't want to impose on anyone."

"You can stay at my place," Callen offered before he could stop himself.

She turned around and looked at him. "You don't even have a bed."

"I do so," he said. "I just don't sleep in it."

"What?" she asked with a grin.

"The team bought me a bed for Christmas last year as a gag gift. A very expensive gag gift. They had it delivered to the house and set up in the master bedroom and everything," he said with a grin. "If the delivery men hadn't left muddy footprints through the house, I might not have noticed it for a few days."

"Why don't you sleep in your bed?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I like my bedroll."

"I'm fine here, Agent Callen. But thanks for the offer," she said turning back to the monitor.

"Come on, it's got sheets and everything. Nice and comfy," he said. "I'd hate for you to sleep here, and not get a good night's sleep. We need our analysis alert."

She turned back to him with a smile. "You're not going to give up are you?"

"Nope," he answered.

She stepped closer to him. "You used to women just agreeing to whatever you ask? Taking them home, getting them in your bed."

He took a step back. "I didn't mean it like that, Nell."

A grin fell across her face as she started to laugh. "I'm just teasing you. I know you don't think of me like that."

He nodded. Except he did think of her like that, and he did want her in his bed. He knew inviting her to spend the night was a dangerous proposition. He wasn't worried that either of them would cross the line, but he was worried that if he saw her in his house, it would forever make it feel like a home.

"If you order us some dinner, I guess I could be persuaded to take you up on your offer," she said with a laugh.

"I could do that," he said with a nod.

"Then I'll grab my things," she said with a soft smile.

"Do you want me to drive, or do you want to follow me in your car?" he asked.

"If you drive, we'll just have to come back in the morning to get my car," she said. "And since tomorrow's Saturday and you're off, that would just be silly."

"It's up to you. I'm sure no one would see it," he said with a shrug.

"Unless Eric comes in early to do work on things when he's done surfing. He does that some Saturdays."

"And Eric might be jealous if he sees me drop you off to get your car," he said, watching her carefully for a reaction.

She laughed. "Well, maybe in that case, I should let you drive me."

"Really?" Callen paused, taking in the information. "I always figured you and him..."

She shook her head. "Never. Not even close to my type and way to geeky."

"Ok then," Callen said carefully, not ready to finish the conversation. "I'll meet you outside then."

She nodded and he turned from the room, trying to process this new turn of events. If Eric wasn't her type, he couldn't help but wonder who was. He was sure that he wasn't it. Old, secret agent, with a mysterious past, wasn't the type of man that she'd be interested in. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder what else he didn't know about her.

***

"Anything in particular that you want on your pizza?" Callen asked, as he looked over the menu.

She shook her head. "I'll eat anything. I'm pretty easy."

He grinned. "Really?"

"Not what I meant," she said her face and neck turning red. "If I were, my sister wouldn't have insisted on setting me up on an online dating site."

"That was your sister's doing?" he asked with a laugh. "Why would she torture you like that?"

Nell shrugged. "She thinks I should get out more. Work less hours at the TV station."

"Right. The TV station," he said with a smile. "It's not easy lying to your family is it?"

"No," she said with a soft frown. "But it's either that, or get a different job. And I love my job."

Callen nodded and set down the menu to grab a couple of beers from the fridge. "I do own a sofa, if you want to take these in and I'll call in the food."

"Ok," she said softly and she accepted the drinks from him.

He watched her step out of the room, and with a sigh he leaned against the kitchen counter. It took everything he had not to make a move. He had expected her to be different outside of the office, but he was surprised to find that was even easier to be around than she was at work. Instead of clamming up, she seemed willing to talk about anything that he brought up, and he wondered how much he could learn about her before the night was over.

When he stepped into the living room, she was sitting at one end of the sofa, her feet tucked under her, her tablet in her hand, and an annoyed look on her face.

"The pizza will be here in about forty minutes," Callen said, sitting down at the other end of the sofa. "Everything ok?"

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "Why, when you tell someone that you aren't interested, do they refuse to believe you? Why do they have to keep pushing the issue until you just want to hit them?"

"Um," Callen shook his head. "Who are we talking about?"

She set her tablet down on the cushion between them with a sigh. "Eric. He's left me half a dozen messages since he left work on this stupid site. I don't even want to meet anyone online, but my sister set it up before I could stop her and if I shut it down, it will hurt her feelings."

"And Eric?" Callen asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not stupid, I knew he had a crush on me, and I've just been trying to ignore it. He's just not my type, even if he does think that I'm his. And for a while left it be, and we were just friends. But now it's like he's cyber stalking me."

"Stalking?"

"Ok. Not stalking. I don't think he'd gonna go all crazy on me or anything. But he may drive me up the wall," Nell said with a laugh. "I like Eric, I really do. But only as a friend."

Callen nodded, a dangerous idea forming in his head. "What if you told him you met someone?"

"Who?"

"Someone online. Someone that maybe emailed you on the site, that you thought you could be interested in," he said slowly.

She laughed. "And where would I find this mystery man? I can't just make up a profile and email myself. You know Eric would end up trying to trace the IP address or something and figure it out."

Callen sat in silence for a few moments thinking over the plan that was forming in his head. It was absolutely ridiculous, but he couldn't pass up the chance to get to know her a little better. Maybe if he helped her with her Eric problem he'd discover along the way that she wasn't his type after all.

"I could do it," he said suddenly.

"What?" she said with a laugh.

"I could make a profile. I could make up an alias, and email you," he said with a grin.

"And if Eric cracks that?" Nell asked.

"Do you really think he would do that?" Callen asked with a grin.

She shrugged. "Probably not."

He grinned at her and grabbed her tablet to begin creating his own profile. With help from Nell, he started to create a profile that was nothing like Eric, and a lot like himself. If he were a day trader and not an agent.

"Age?" he asked Nell with a grin.

"Use your real age," she said with a shrug. "I don't mind an older man."

He nodded. "Let's see. Blue eyes, muscular build, works out every day."

Nell started laughing, and he looked curiously at her.

"Why would this guy be interested in me?" she asked between giggles.

"Why wouldn't he?" Callen said with a shrug.

"It's like saying _you_ would be interested in me," she said with a shrug. "I'm just the boring tech girl. This type of guy is out of my league. Let's face it, Eric is more my league."

Callen took a deep breath and sat the table down on the back of the sofa. "You know that's not true."

"Yes it is, Callen. Trust me, the only guys that have messages me on this stupid site either was a one night stand while their girlfriends or wives are out of town, or they're Eric. Or guys like Eric."

Callen looked into her eyes and started to lean closer to her when he heard the doorbell ring. He pulled away with a jerk and grinned weakly. "That must be the pizza."

He quickly stepped out of the room and swung open the front door. He handed the pizza guy some money from his wallet without counting it and grabbed the box from him. Closing the door, he leaned forward, resting his head against the doorframe, silently curing. If the doorbell hadn't rung, he wasn't sure what would have happened. A part of his wished he had been able to find out, but the more rational part knew that it couldn't have ended well, and he would be doing them both a favor if he just made up a reason for his actions, and ignored what really almost happened.

He turned around, planning to carry the pizza into the room and forgetting about what had just happened, but instead he almost ran into Nell who was standing in his hallway.

"Callen?" she asked hesitantly. "What almost happened in there?"

Callen shook his head. "Nothing."

"You're lying," she said softly. "Why?"

"Because nothing almost happened, Nell. You're my co-worker. Nothing happened."

"If I weren't your co-worker? If I were just some girl that didn't know you? Then what?" she asked.

"Then I never would have met you," he said carefully. "So it wouldn't matter."

She nodded. "You know what; I think this was a bad idea. I should have just gotten a hotel room after all. Or maybe I could call Kensi and see if I can stay in her spare room. I'll just ignore the mess."

"Stay," Callen said softly. "Please?"

"I don't think I can," she said with a frown. "I think too much just happened."

Callen took a deep breath. "I like you Nell. And I know I shouldn't. I know I'm too old for you, to worn out, and I know we work together, but I can't help how I feel."

"This whole thing tonight, inviting me over, offering to be my fake love interest, all of it. Just because what you saw on the screen is ops," she shook her head. "You're just as bad as Eric. You know, most of that profile isn't real. I hate pole dancing and poker night. And I don't run. And I love rom-coms, and spa days and girls night. And cats. Who hates cats? And shoes. What woman hates shoes? My sister wrote stuff in there that is nothing like me, just because she thinks that I need a guy, and now all of you think that I'd be interested because I'm the pathetic girl that has an online profile on a dating site. And I'm not just looking for fun. I'm looking for the whole package."

Callen watched her silently as she ranted. He knew that she was mad, and he knew that she was just enough like Hetty that he should be scared, but she was enough like Nell that he wasn't worried. Instead it was making her even more attractive. With a grin on his face he opened the pizza box and pulled out a piece. Taking a bite, he laughed as she paused and stared at him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, shaking her head.

He shrugged. "You were on a roll, I figured we'd be here a while. And if the profile is a lie, that means you don't like pizza, so I have the whole pie to myself."

"I do so like pizza," she said. "Are you going to share it with me?"

He walked past her and headed into the living room. "I thought you were leaving."

She followed him, and he could feel her eyes on him. "I am hungry. Maybe I could eat before I left."

He sat down on the sofa and held the box out to her. "If you want to stay, I'll share. But first you're going to need to get a few more beers from the fridge."

She nodded and quietly turned toward the kitchen. He tried not to laugh at her while she was gone. There was something about her fiery personality that made him want to forget the pizza and carry her off to the bedroom, but before he tried something like that, he needed to get her to realize that his attraction to her had nothing to do with that profile.

She returned with two bottles of beer in each hand. "You know the part about the pizza and imported beer was the truth."

He nodded. "So was the hiking. And the travel. And you do hate the mall."

"True," she said softly. "But I don't like wings."

"You also like wresting, but not WWE," Callen said with a gentle smile. "What I said in the hall, it had nothing to do with that profile Nell. I knew as soon as I saw it was real and what wasn't."

"Ok," she said slowly. "But that doesn't mean that tonight wasn't a set-up."

"I saw an opportunity," he said carefully. "And I took it. You needed somewhere to stay; I have a bed that I don't use. And if that meant that I got to spend some time without you outside of the office, and maybe get to know you a little more, that was a bonus."

"We work together, Callen," she said. "And, and we work together."

"Is that your only objection? Not my age? Not my mysterious past? Just the fact that we work together?" he asked.

She nodded. "I meant it when I said that I like older guys. Guys my age don't understand me, I'm too smart for them, and they're boring. They're like overgrown frat boys."

"If we didn't work together?" Callen asked.

"But we do," she said. "And not only that, but we work for Hetty."

"So I'd need her permission to ask you to dinner?" he said with a grin, an idea forming in his head.

She shrugged. "Sure, Callen. You ask Hetty that, and if she says yes, I'll go to dinner with you."

"Ok," he said. "I'll ask her tomorrow morning, and we'll go out for dinner tomorrow night."

"You have a deal," she said with a laugh. "But only if she says yes."

"Don't worry, I'll get her to say yes," Callen said with a grin.

Nell shrugged and grabbed a piece of pizza. Callen watched her as he stood and crossed the room to turn on some music. Come tomorrow, he would get Hetty's blessing and go on a real date with Nell, but for tonight he would be content with the chance to get to know her a little bit better.


End file.
